5/2/05

Installment#3:THE ROLE OF YOUR MUSE

According to Webster the definition for muse is: a source of inspiration, which is any of the nine sister Goddesses of learning and the arts in Greek Mythology. Webster seems very sure the number is indeed nine! Well, I have never read that particular Greek Myth, but I would swear there truly were only three. Heckle, Jackal, and Hide, not necessarily in that order.

Oh? I see, you thought your Muse would be the tender hand holding type, having a never ending supply of solutions designed to keep you encouraged, and your career moving forward. Yeah, right! No. No, but please don’t get me wrong! The fact that your Muse is much more likely to be a slave-driving wretch, who will make you bleed for every step forward you gain, is not entirely their fault. In fact, the fault does not belong to the Muse Sisterhood at all, but is rather embedded in the true nature of man (or woman, whichever applies). You see, owing to our own highly competitive nature, humans do not respond as well to kind the word of advice as one would suppose.

Think about it. Does a toddler refrain from climbing just because loving parents have repeated some seventy million times that their angel will fall and go boom? No, of course not! The toddler will continue to climb. And, until they have experienced a really good goose egg on their own terms, words will be totally wasted. Even then, just to make sure that the “boom” really had been as bad as they’d thought, the toddler will do it again.